Over the years, Macs have had a ton of options for excellent app launchers. Alfred is our pick because it manages to balance features with usability. Anyone can pick it up and start using it, but if you want to dig deeper into automation there's plenty of room for expansion.

Android (4.4+): Rooting your Android phone or tablet involves connecting it to the PC, using ADB, and several other steps. But developer geohot has now released Towelroot, a new tool that makes rooting many Android devices as simple as installing an app and running it.

Android: Popular, beloved sleep tracking app, Sleep Cycle, was previously only available on iOS. Today, Sleep Cycle has rolled out to Android users too, many of whom could benefit from a better night's sleep.

OS X (10.9+): If you're looking to customize your desktop in OS X, usually you'd turn to an app like GeekTool. Now there's an alternative—Übersicht, a new app that lets you build custom widgets to embed on your desktop and display whatever you like—weather, to-dos, appointments, and more.

Android/iOS/Windows/Chrome: Whether you're learning English or you've been speaking it your whole life, Ginger Page is a new writing tool that wants to make sure that your spelling and grammar are accurate at home and on the go. The app translates other languages for you, offers contextual corrections, and more.

Android: If you're not using Gmail on an Android phone, you've probably been relegated to whatever email app came with your phone. Now, Google's released its own Email app to the Play Store as another option.

Web/Mac: When Sid Yadav realized he didn't need lots of text files and Evernote documents, he created 5iler, a new free app for web and Mac that gives you only five notepads for all your digital scribbles